To address disparity in provision and to help build sustainable delivery models we will : Develop the language skills of staff involved in delivering foreign language tuition; and seek to move them towards the next level on the CERFL ( From A0 - A1 and from A1 - A2), Improve both confidence in application of the target language through an immersive experience in France or Spain., Arrange for every school to have at least one partner school in the country where the taught language is spoken and to encourage use e-based communication as a vehicle for project development, Contribute to a resource bank of materials in each school and an on-line collective bank of resources which can be accessed by all schools across the county, Initiate in-school CPD sessions and encourage participants to lead on delivery as part of further staff development, Set up cluster/network meetings for practitioners and participants to share experiences and trial approaches and different pedagogies, Deliver a best practice conference for all schools in the sub region in July 2021; aiming to attract 100 delegates, Develop foreign language hubs in each school and across the county which can share ideas and approaches and offer CPD. Our plan was to continue to work with schools which have identified foreign language related professional development need, establish teams in schools to take training forward, offer county CPD with support from partners at the local university, conclude with ongoing cluster and network group meetings and a final dissemination event. Our aim was to build capacity within as many schools as possible to deliver MFL entitlement in each classroom. In parallel to language training, we will help schools to forge partnerships with schools in France and Spain to build pupils' cultural awareness and to propose peer to peer support to teachers delivering languages. A new initiative where almost bilingual undergraduate students mentor classroom teachers by skype and help with lesson preparation and pronunciation will be rolled out to this new cohort following their attendance at the course. Overwhelmingly, staff who have been involved in the consultation phase of this project suggested that attending an intensive course in a country where the target language is spoken would help them would provide them with opportunities which could not be afforded to them in their own country,
In discussions with school leaders the quality of modern foreign language provision was discussed frequently. Headteachers were concerned that school staff did not have the requisite skills to deliver languages in the primary classroom and lacked confidence in building international links in countries where the target language is spoken. Concerns were expressed by secondary school colleagues that pupils arriving to begin their secondary education had very different experiences of language learning and often language teachers had to go back to basics for all learners; which was demotivating for some groups of pupils and negates progress which could have been made at the primary school. This project was all about building capacity; within each school and also across our county. Instead of having pockets of good practice, we wanted to have confident school staff in every school who can use the target language during formal lessons and at other points in the school day. We wanted staff to be able to draw upon a resource bank of materials with accompanying teaching notes to support them in their teaching. This supported the specific objectives of the ERASMUS programme; notably : improving the level of key competencies and skills, enhancing the international dimension of education and training, improving the teaching and learning of languages. In previous years, individual schools had invested in professional development for one member of staff; often the MFL lead, but changes in school staffing mean that the benefits to the school could be lost if the participant moves establishment. By encouraging participation of so many staff, we aimed to build a critical mass of motivated, experienced and confident teaching staff and teaching assistants who could support foreign language teaching in their own school and in their cluster school areas. The local authority had been successful with two ERASMUS applications to develop foreign language skills and this success had created interest among ever increasing numbers of school staff who were keen to develop their own MFL competences. There were good levels of enthusiasm for the subject and staff point at ways in which it offered support for social inclusion and also in supporting work which was being undertaken in mother tongue lessons. However, staff also reported that they lacked confidence in delivering the lessons; especially in speaking, and in helping pupils with pronunciation. Colleagues have suggested that a lack of teacher confidence in the application of the target language was of primary concern. There was no central funding to develop teacher competence in foreign languages and many colleagues did not feel equipped to deliver a challenging foreign language curriculum. In some schools, foreign language teaching was undertaken by a single member of staff with A1/A2 levels. This raised concerns over how the subject was supported in event of staff changes and how learning could be reinforced between specialist lessons. Issues around choice of language also posed certain issues for schools. In some cases, the local secondary school offered Spanish as the first foreign language but primary staff often had only French and colleagues wanted to work together better to assure progression and transition to KS3. Our research mirrors that found in the National Language Survey commissioned by the British Council. Most of our schools have embedded languages in the curriculum but there were significant disparities in provision. In some schools, 20 - 30 minutes of tuition is delivered by a specialist teacher during PPA time and then not built on during the rest of the week. In other schools, informal language clubs or ad hoc lessons; especially in Year 6, formed the basis of content. There were also concerns expressed by school leaders about how progress could be effectively assessed to ensure that language lessons were not just activity focused but that pupils developed skills throughout the key stage. Many of the pupils at schools in County Durham had little contact with speakers of other languages nor do they experience opportunity to apply language learning skills. We felt that we needed to extend the horizons of the children and provide meaningful opportunities for them to communicate effectively and purposefully with speakers of the target language through the creation and development of international school partnerships. We based our application in line with programme guidance: each school framed its professional development need within a European development plan, the selected staff were chosen based on identified professional development need and ability to implement learning on return to school, schools agreed to formally recognise the learning and arranged to disseminate across the establishment and in county cluster groups.